Here's How Long It Takes A Regular Person To Lose Baby Weight

We don't all have resources like Kate Middleton.
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American paparazzi is child's play compared to the British national pastime of royalty obsession. And so, not long after the royal baby watch peaked with the clutter of shutters capturing 2-day-old Prince George, the cameras turned back to his new mum, specifically, her royal baby bump.

"Kate's Post-Baby Weight Loss Regime," was touted on the cover of a special edition OK!, a British tabloid claiming that, according to Kate Middleton's trainer, "her stomach will shrink straight back."

Meanwhile, readers struck back. Rebuking unfair beauty and body standards placed on women, and new moms, British TV anchor Katy Hill tweeted a picture of her own portly post-partum body and summarily sparked a rallying cry. In calling for praise, not punishment of women's post-baby bodies and a boycott of OK!, Hill elicited thousands of laudatory tweets and retweets in an episode now dubbed babyweight-gate. The magazine owners, in turn, defended their admiration of Mom Middleton. "Like the rest of the world, we were very moved by her radiance as she and William introduced the Prince of Cambridge to the world. We would not dream of being critical of her appearance."

New Mums. If the @OK_Magazine#Kate cover has made you feel bad, here's me 2 months post baby. YOU MADE A HUMAN! x pic.twitter.com/EQUGv8iTxa— Katy Hill (@KatyHillTV) July 23, 2013

Hill has since become a celebrity crusader for women's healthy body image, her Twitter feed still atwitter with comments like, "Thank you for speaking the truth! The only word for a bump is beautiful."

Amid the hoo-ha, U.S. News aims to clarify what women, and those who love them, can realistically expect of themselves and their bodies in the weeks and months after childbirth. For starters, that baby bump on Middleton the day after giving birth? Totally normal. It takes several weeks for the enlarged uterus to return to the pelvis, says Myra Wick, an assistant professor of medical genetics and obstetrics and gynecology at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

As for returning to one's pre-pregnancy weight, that can happen in as little as six weeks, but four to six months is a more reasonable time frame, says Laura Riley, director of labor and delivery and obstetrics and gynecology infectious disease at Massachusetts General Hospital and author of "You & Your Baby: Pregnancy." "It took you nine months to put the weight on, it's going to take you some time to take the weight off." To get there, she recommends a healthy, balanced diet - especially for breast-feeding - and exercise, specifically a program that involves cardio and core work. Restoring muscle is the only way to "get all of the jiggly pieces back together, frankly," she says.

"The tough part is, in order to do that kind of dedicated exercise, you gotta have resources," like people who do your cooking, Riley says. "The Kate Middletons of the world and the Kim Kardashians, they have those people come to their house. The rest of us mere mortals have to figure it out," and try to find 30 minutes to exercise with a video.

"It is not easy, and I think that that always gets forgotten," she says. In those first four to six months after childbirth, "the vast majority of people are still trying to figure it out ... still have a marriage, still have their sanity - and lose weight? It's hard."

Women can begin light exercise like swimming or walking as early as 24 hours after delivery, Wick says, adding that "it's important to listen to your body when you're getting back to exercise." If you're tired or seeing increased vaginal bleeding, scale back, she says.

In any case, women should not expect their bodies to look like or behave as they did before pregnancy. Much of the changes that can occur - like darkening of the skin, commonly called the "mask of pregnancy" and an enlarged vagina - can be cosmetically adjusted if patients want. While most women can "get their abs back," sagging breasts seem to be "the one thing that sticks," Riley says. "They look fabulous, and then they deflate." As for sex, the dive in sex drive that follows childbirth should eventually return once hormones stabilize, vaginal healing takes place and exhaustion subsides.

But dieting has its time and place. For example, a breast-feeding mom will need extra calories, and even one who isn't needs plenty of nutrients to heal from childbirth, says Iffath Hoskins, a high-risk obstetrician and director of safety and quality in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NYU Langone Medical Center. Hoskins advises women to focus on a "new normal" after childbirth. And the most critical issue to address in those fragile first few months is psychological wellness.

According to Hoskins, about 80 percent of new moms feel the "baby blues," as a massive drop in hormones can spell mood swings, not to mention the frustration from sleep deprivation and grappling with a crying baby. While feeling some post-partum depression is OK, failing to talk about it isn't, she says, explaining that women often feel guilty for feeling sad and stressed.

"Don't hold yourself to any artificial standard," Hoskins says. "There is no right or wrong way in the post-partum period ... No one is going to give you a gold star for saying, 'I never cried' or 'I never felt depressed.'" About 5 percent of women who experience "the baby blues" have severe depression, including psychosis like hearing voices that may compel a new mother to harm her baby, she says. No matter what you may be experiencing, get rid of the shame and get it out in the open so you don't have to handle it alone, Hoskins says.

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Remember, too, that as prepared as a woman might be for pregnancy and childbirth, it's impossible to predict how a woman will handle motherhood, whether it's her first or third child. "How are you gonna know how you feel when you've had three consecutive nights of being up for an hour each night?" Hoskins asks, underscoring the need to talk to people about your feelings during this time. "You don't have to say, 'Help me, help me. I'm drowning.' You can take all the credit for being a wonderful mother who managed to make it all OK, but in the process, talk to somebody."